Stanford football could have similar style next season

LOS ANGELES -- Expect more of the same from Stanford next season -- more hit-and-miss offense, more immovable defense, more close games, and more victories.

The number of wins, and Stanford's position in the preseason polls, depends partly on how many juniors enter the NFL draft.

Tight ends Zach Ertz and Levine Toilolo, linebackers Shayne Skov and Trent Murphy, and defensive end Ben Gardner will evaluate their draft prospects and decide in the next 10 days.

Ertz, a potential first-round pick who is on track to graduate this spring, is expected to depart. Toilolo, an intriguing pro prospect at 6-foot-8, might not be far behind.

Stanford will also lose a handful of key seniors from an offense that ranked 69th in the nation in scoring and sputtered in the second half of the 20-14 victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Without record-setting tailback Stepfan Taylor, center Sam Schwartzstein and starting receivers Drew Terrell and Jamal-Rashad Patterson, the Cardinal must find a new group of playmakers to complement quarterback Kevin Hogan, who will be a sophomore next season.

Taylor and Ertz scored half of Stanford's offensive touchdowns and accounted for the majority of its clutch plays.

"We'll get back to the running back-by-committee approach until somebody establishes himself as our workhorse," offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton said.

The line should be an elite unit given the four returning starters and presumptive development of several talented freshmen.

That should make life easier for Hogan, who was 5-0 as a starter but must polish his passing skills.

"There's no reason they're not one of the best lines in the country," Ertz said. "They'll blend well because they're all good friends off the field. It will be something special to see."

The same should be true of a defense that didn't allow a point in the fourth quarter of the final six games, especially if Skov, Murphy and Gardner return to school.

Stanford loses only one senior from the group that started the Rose Bowl: outside linebacker Chase Thomas.

Thomas is a significant loss -- his contributions as a playmaker and outspoken voice in the locker room have been invaluable the past two seasons. But the Stanford is loaded with young talent on every level of the defense.

One candidate to replace Thomas is Noor Davis, a freshman who picked Stanford over ... Alabama.

"We don't rebuild," Skov said. "We just replace."

* Stanford is 35-5 in the past three seasons.

* Cardinal coach David Shaw is the first African-American coach to win a Bowl Championship Series game. This is the 15th year of the BCS.

* The victory over Wisconsin improved Stanford's Rose Bowl record to 6-6-1.